Being dumb...
I've been getting a chuckle out of this list for
a long time. Ah, I do love to read posts from people with a more inflated
sense of self-worth than myself.
Nevertheless, I really liked Eric's post about
typists becoming tech writers. Thanks Eric. It was nice. It
made me want to reveal a super-duper dark secret that only I know about...
<--- big fluttering satire
flag
We are all dumb.
Amazing isn't it. For a long time I thought I was a
brilliant, rational tech writer. But then, I realized, I am a certified, card-carrying,
slap-me-on-a-slab-and-whack-off-a-limb moron. Despite my mammoth technical
writer ego - I screw things up. I produce crappy documents, I mix tenses,
I misspell things, I forget what a computer does, I forget to wash my hands, I
leave my fly open, etc.
Guess what, so do you. We all have a
"dumb-center" in our brain. For the most part it does all the
work while we sit around and think about sex. I don't need some
mega-advanced degree from some prestigious vine covered university to tell me
this. It is wired right into our DNA. It comes with your pituitary
gland and fingernails.
Fortunately, 51% of the time the
"dumb-center" gets things right, and that is ultimately what makes me
a decent tech writer.
If you can spell most words correctly and
produce quality instructions most of the time -- you're doing okay. Tech writing
is a skill not a universal force that binds us and surrounds us. You can learn
it anywhere. Hell, I never took a single tech writing course in my life
I'm doing okay. I learned on the job, pecking away at it. Slow and
methodical.
So before you whip out that 17.22 mm fuel-injected turbo
trans-dimensional defensive tech writer ego - better think about that
unmotivated slob in the next cubicle. When Microsoft is made illegal and the Y2K
bug grids humanity to a halt - the slob's methodical, semi-conscious typing may
be more valuable in the job market than your high-powered know-it-all FrameMaker
skills. While you are busy preaching the gospel of
SGML or defending the Timeless Art of Technical Communication, the dolt in the
other cubicle may be poised to knock you and your brilliance back down to
bedrock.
People are amazing beings if you give them a chance. The
surest way to encourage incompetence is to tell people "you can't do
that." With a little encouragement and positive feedback, people can
accomplish great things. And people who think they are great can
accomplish nothing.
And with that, you may return to your tepid drudgery, already
in progress.
------------------------------------------------
Andrew Plato President / Principal Consultant Anitian Consulting, Inc. Serious Business and Technical
Solutions
|
Previous by Author:
Re: manuals w/almost identical content
Next by Author:
SATIRE: How I got to be a smug tech writer
Previous by Thread:
Re: Conceit, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Competition
Next by Thread:
Re: Being dumb...
Search our Technical Writing Archives & Magazine
Visit TechWhirl's Other Sites
Sponsored Ads